Monday, July 25, 2011

Sophie Lynne made her arrival into this world on July 20, 2011 at 9:00AM. She weighed 7 lbs and 13 oz. She was 19 1/2 inches long. Sophie was delivered by c-section by Dr. Ashley Gooding because she was breeched. At first, I was not happy about missing out on "giving birth", but after looking back on how easy everything was, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I arrived at the hospital around 7am and was given an IV for fluids and medicine. Dr. Gooding did an ultrasound to confirm that Sophie was still breeched. At 8:45, I was wheeled in my bed down the hall to the OR. I was getting kind of nervous because I had no idea what to expect. As I went into the room, I was immediately hit with bright lights and cold air. I moved to the OR table and the anesthesiologist did my spinal block. Dr. Gooding held my hand and I was very surprised that it didn't really hurt. My legs and belly immediately went numb and Dr. Gooding began whistling "Happy Birthday to You!" My arms started shaking from the anesthesia when Michael came in. I heard as each of Sophie's body parts came out. First a leg, then her hiney, and then another leg. I was so excited and I couldn't wait to see her. Then they said I would feel a lot of pressure as they pushed her head down and before I knew it she was crying. I remember asking, "Is she still a girl?" I head the nurses commenting on how beautiful she was and she just kept crying as they cleaned her off. Tears filled my eyes to know that my sweet baby girl was beautiful and healthy.

They brought her over to me and we had our first picture made together. During all this excitement, I was being stitched back together. It seemed to all go by so quickly! Michael went with her to the NICU while they checked her over, gave her a bath, and did her footprints. I went to my room where my recovery started. I kept getting updates from everyone about her progress. It was so neat to see the excitement on everyone's face. My mom was so sweet and stayed with me the entire time.

Once they finally brought her to me, I was hooked up to my morphine pump and feeling great. I held her for a few minutes and then passed her to everyone else. I dozed in and out of sleep through the afternoon. Morphine did not agree with me very well. I felt nauseated and clammy. Later that evening my mom and the nurse decided to remove the pain pump. After the morphine wore off, I started feeling much better. The feeling was back in my belly and hips and was continuing to come back in my legs. In the middle of the night, the nurse came and removed all my other apparatuses. I finally got some sleep then. At 4:30am, I was ready to get out of bed. I was a little nervous at first but after I stood up, I felt okay. I walked to the bathroom and then got back in bed. It was a miracle that I wasn't in immense pain. I knew God was in control!

As the day went on, I got out of bed more and more. I had a blast getting to know my little Sophie. I was so surprised at how well I was recovering.

Friday morning was the turning point for all of us. Sophie went to the nursery to see the pediatrician and while she was there she vomited all the gunk still in her tummy. After that, she really started eating and hasn't slowed down yet! Saturday morning, she had her hearing test done. She failed in her left ear, so we have to take her to an ENT in a couple weeks. Her bilirubin test for jaundice came back at a 6.5 so she passed that test. We were both discharged Saturday morning and were welcomed home by lots of family. It was so sweet!

Our first night home was interesting. Sophie's appetite has really picked up and she was hungry all night. She finally gave up the fight at about 6AM and slept for a few hours. She repeated this process all day. When I put her to bed at 9:15PM she slept until 12:30AM! Then she was up every 30 minutes to an hour starving to death. She has now passed out in her bed where she's been sleeping for 2 hours!